World Bank needs new strategy: German executive

BERLIN (Reuters) - The World Bank's Executive Director Eckhard Deutscher said on Monday that the organization needed a new strategy after President Paul Wolfowitz was forced out of his position over a pay scandal involving his companion.

Deutscher, who is also dean of the board of member countries, told German radio in an interview that the bank must work to improve communication and motivate its workers. An overhaul by Wolfowitz had been stopped in its tracks, he said.

"As late as January he tried to push through a new strategy with the executive board but it came too late," he told Deutschlandradio Kultur in an interview.

Deutscher also said he expected the United States to pick a U.S. citizen to replace Wolfowitz as president.

The United States, the bank's largest shareholder, has named the World Bank chief since the bank's inception over 60 years ago. Wolfowitz's appointment in 2005 was unpopular with some European board members since the former Pentagon official had been a key architect of the Iraq war.

Wolfowitz struggled in recent weeks to cling to his job in the face of fierce opposition from the Europeans and senior staff within the bank after it was revealed that his companion who worked at the bank received a high-paying promotion.

Germany's Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczoreck-Zeul was a vocal critic of Wolfowitz in the wake of the promotion scandal, arguing that the bank had been weakened by the affair.